We stayed there for some time, and on our way home a dretful thing
happened to me. After we all got started, sunthin' happened to one of
the poles of my chair, and with as much motionin' and jabberin' as a
presidential election would call for, they at last got it fixed agin.
By that time the party had all disappeared, and the bearers of my
vehicle started off at their highest speed right acrost ploughed land
and springin' crops and everything, not stoppin' for anything.
Where wuz they takin' me? Wuz I to perish in these wilds? Wuz they
carryin' me off for booty? I had on my cameo pin and I trembled. It
wuz my pride in Jonesville; wuz I to lose my life for it? Or wuz it my
good looks that wuz ondoin' of me? Did they want to make me their
brides? I sez to them in agonizin' axents, "Take me back instantly to
my pardner! He is the choice of my youth! I will never wed another!
You hain't congenial to me anyway! It is vain for you to elope with me
for I will never be your brides!"
But they jabbered and motioned and acted and paid no attention only to
rush along faster than ever.
I then tried a new tact with 'em. With tremblin' fingers I onpinned
the cameo pin, and with a noble jester that would have become Jeptha
as he gin his only daughter for a sacrifice, I handed it out to 'em.
And sez I, "If that is what you want, take it, and then bear me back
safely to my beloved pardner agin."
But they never touched it. They only jabbered away louder and more
fierce like and yanked me along faster than ever.
Oh, the agony of that time! Dear Josiah, should I never see thee agin?
and the children and the grandchildren? Hills and dells of lovely
Jonesville! Would they never dawn on my vision more! Would the old
mair never whinner joyfully at my appearance, or Snip bark a welcome?
I thought of all the unfortunate Hebrew wimmen who would have been
neighbors to me then if I had been born soon enough. Ruth, Esther,
Hagar, they all had suffered, they had all most likely looked off onto
the desert, even as I wuz lookin' for help, and it didn't come to some
on 'em. And by this time to add to my sufferin's, the mantilly of
night was descendin' over the seen, the tropical night that comes so
swift, so fast, oh, what should I do? Every move I made, every
despairin' jester only seemed to make 'em go faster, so it wuz plain
to be seen that my help wuz not in man. I thought of that pillar of
fire that had lighted that sad procession of Hebrews acrost that very
desert. And, like a cool, firm hand, laid on a feverish, restless
foretop, come agin the thought of them three wise men that had trod
that desert waste. No path, no guide to lead 'em, only the Star, and I
sez in my inmost heart:
"That Star hain't lost its light; it remains jest as bright and clear
to-day as it did then to light true believers acrost the darkness in
the hour of their need." And jest as plain as though they wuz spoke to
me come these beautiful words: "I will lift up mine eyes to the hills
from whence cometh my help."
And I lifted my streamin' eyes accordin', for by this time I wuz
cryin' and sheddin' tears. I could see by the faint light in the west
that there wuz considerable of a hill on the east of me, and as my
weepin' eyes wuz lifted in that direction my heart almost stood still
as I beheld all of a sudden a glowin' star of light shine out of the
darkness right on the top of that hill and rapidly desend in my
direction nearer and nearer.
Oh, joy! oh, bliss! it wuz my own pardner with a lantern. His devoted
love had bore him back. Settin' on a donkey bearin' a lantern, he
looked to me like an angel. It wuz the star of love, indeed it wuz!
the brightest star of earth come to light my dark pathway. And I bust
out:
"Oh, Josiah Allen! you are not one of the wise men, but you look
better to me than any of 'em could."
And he sez, "It don't look very pretty for you, after hangin' out till
this time o' night, to run the one who has come way back after you
with a lantern, and talk about his not knowin' anything."
"Run you, Josiah," sez I, "you look more beautiful to me than words
can tell."
That mollified him and he sez with a modest smile, "I spoze I am very
pretty lookin', but I worried about you a sight."
It seems that they had went on a pretty good jog, and seein' my
bearers had got belated with me they had took a short cut acrost the
fields to overtake 'em. But it was a eppisode not to be forgot, and I
told Josiah not to be separated away from me a minute after this. Sez
I, "I almost feel like purchasin' a rope and tyin' myself to you for
the rest of the tower."
Sez he, "That would make talk, Samantha, but I will keep my eye on you
and not let you git carried off agin; for the feelin's I felt when I
missed you I would not go through agin for a dollar bill."
Well, we soon come up with the rest of the party. It seemed that they
had been talkin' and havin' such a good time they hadn't missed me for
quite a while. But when they did, Arvilly said Josiah acted some as he
did when she and he pursued me acrost the continent; sez she, "He
acted like a fool; I knew you couldn't be fur behind."
And I sez, "Arvilly, spiritual things are spiritually discerned; love
is spiritual and love has to interpret it."
"Well," sez she, "I am glad he found you so soon, for, to tell the
truth, I wuz beginnin' to worry a little myself."
Miss Meechim said she thought I had gone into some shrine to worship.
That was a great idee! off with four Arabs huntin' a shrine at that
time of night!
The next day we started for Jerusalem by way of Joppa and Ismalia. It
wuz on a fair evenin', as the settin' sun made strange reflections on
earthly things, we entered through the gate into Jerusalem, city of
our God. Nineteen centimes since, the Star moved along through the
December night and stood over the lonely manger in Bethlehem where a
Babe wuz born. The three wise men wuz the first visitors to that
Child. Now fifteen thousand visitors come yearly from every part of
the world to look upon this sacred place where the Man of Sorrows
lived his sorrowful life of good to all, suffered and died, and the
heavenly King burst the bonds of the tomb and ascended into heaven.
In these streets did sad-eyed prophets walk to and fro, carrying the
message of the coming of the King. They were stunned by the
gain-sayin' world, jest as it stuns its prophets to-day, only with
different kinds of stuns mebby, but hard ones. Here they wuz
afflicted, tormented, beaten, sawn asunder for uttering the truth as
God made it known to them, jest as they are to-day, of whom the world
wuz not worthy. Just like to-day. Here after centuries had gone by,
the truth they had foretold become manifest in the flesh. Jest as it
shall be. After hundreds of years had gone by, he whom the prophets
had foretold wuz born in Bethlehem, and the three wise men, fur apart,
knowin' nothin' of each other, wuz warned of his birth and wuz told to
foller the Star. They obeyed the heavenly vision and met on the
pathless desert, as the soul's and heart's desires of all good men and
wimmen meet who follow the Star!
Oh, sacred place! to be thus honored. What emotions I felt as my own
feet trod these roads, my own eyes looked on these sacred places.
The next morning after our arrival we went up to the Mount of Olives,
and from a tower two hundred feet high looked down on Jerusalem. The
Mount of Olives is a long, low ridge on the east of the city. The
Garden of Gethsemane is down on the foot of Olivet near the brook
Kedron. Here eight great olive trees much larger than the rest form a
sacred grove from whose melancholy shadows might well come that
agonizing cry to his disciples for human sympathy and love:
"Could ye not watch with me one hour?"
Here did Judas come over the brook Kedron with the hungry, cruel mob
and betray Him with a kiss. It wuz in this place that our Lord give
that glorious promise that lightens life and death:
"After I be risen I will go before you."
Every leaf of the old olive trees seemed trembling and full of
memories of that hour. To the west was the valley of Jehosiphet,
beyend is the city of the King. Back of you is Bethany, the home of
the friends of Jesus where he tasted sometimes the human sweets of
friendship, in the home of Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. A
beautiful soul Mary wuz, and Martha, poor creeter! I've always been
sorry for her, workin' away doin' the housework when she would much
rather, no doubt, set and listen as Mary did, but somebody had to be
cookin'. So she jest drouged round the house.
You can see the Dead Sea and the river Jordan, where our Lord wuz
baptized and the Dove descended out of the gardens of heaven and lit
on him, whilst the voice of the father God spoke, "This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased."
Not far away from there is Jericho. On the southwest rises the Hill of
Zion, one of the four hills on which Jerusalem stands. As I looked on
it I spoke to my pardner almost onbeknown to me, "Oh, Josiah! how
many times we've sung together:
'The Hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the golden streets.'
"But," sez I, "did you ever expect to set your mortal eyes on't?" He
wuz affected, I could see he wuz, though he tried to conceal it by
nibblin' on some figs he had bought that mornin'.
Miss Meechim wuz all carried away with the seen as the guide pinted
out the different places. Robert Strong and Dorothy didn't seem to
want to talk much, but their faces wuz writ over with characters of
rapt and reverential emotion.
Arvilly for once seemed to forgit her canvassin' and her keen bright
eyes wuz softened into deep thought and feeling. Tommy, who had heard
us talkin' about Herod walling in that part of the city, wonnered how
any man could be so wicked as the cruel king who killed all the little
children, and he wonnered if there ever wuz another king in the hull
world so wicked.
And my Josiah soothed his childish feelings by assuring him that all
such wicked rulers wuz dead and buried ages ago.
And so queer is Arvilly's mind since what she's went through that she
spoke right up and told Tommy that there wuz lots of rulers to-day
jest as wicked and fur wickeder. Sez she, "There are plenty of men in
every city in America that get the right from the rulers of the
country to destroy children in a much worse way than to cut their
heads off."
Sez she, "There are men who entice young children to smoke cigarettes,
drugged on purpose to form a thirst for strong drink, then enticed
into drinking-dives, where goodness and innocence are murdered and
evil passions planted and nursed into life, for the overthrowing of
all their goodness, for the murder of their family's safety and
happiness and making them the nation's menace and greatest danger."
And Tommy wonnered and wonnered what could make men do so, and so did
I.
And Arvilly sez, "What is cuttin' off the heads of twenty or thirty
babies compared to the thousands and thousands of murders that this
licensed evil causes every year?"
Tommy's pretty face looked sad and he sez: "Why do good folks let it
go on?"
And Arvilly sez, "Heaven knows--I don't. But I've cleared my skirts in
the matter. There won't be any innocent blood on my skirts at the last
day."
And Tommy bent his head and looked intently at the bottom of her
dress; and I see my pardner furtively glance at the bottom of his own
pantaloons; he acted guilty.
It is about two milds and a quarter round the city; the walls are
thirty or forty feet high; there are thirty-four towers on the walls,
and the city has eight gates. It has a population of one hundred
thousand, more Jews than any other race; for according to the
Scripture, jest as the Jews wuz scattered to the four winds of heaven,
they have of late been flocking home to Jerusalem jest as the old
prophets predicted exactly.
During their hours of prayer, many Jews wear phylactrys bound to their
forwards and arms, and Robert Strong said he saw one nailed to a
doorpost.
It is a long, narrer case, shaped some like a thermometer, with a
round hole towards the top of it covered with a lid which they can
lift up and see a few words of the ancient parchment inside, some as
the little boy had his prayer printed on the head-board, and on cold
nights would pint to it, sayin', "O Lord, them's my sentiments."
But these Jews did it to carry out Moses' command to bind the words of
the law for a sign on their arms, their heads and their doorposts.
The writing on these phylactrys is so perfect that you can hardly
believe that it is done with a pen. The Jews are extremely careful in
copying the oracles of God. They still write copies of their Old
Testament Scriptures, and every page must have jest so many lines, and
jest the same number of words and letters.
Robert Strong said that this was a great proof of the truth of the
Scriptures. Sez he: "Our Saviour said that one jot or tittle of the
law shall not fail."
Tommy wanted to know what that meant, and Robert told him that "jot"
wuz the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and "tittle" meant the
little horn-shaped mark over some of the letters.
And I sez: "I never knew what that meant before." But Miss Meechim
said she did--she always duz know everything from the beginning,
specially after she's hearn some one explain it. But to resoom: We
went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many different
religious sects come to worship. The place where many think the body
of our Lord wuz lain when he wuz taken down from the cross is covered
with a slab worn down by the worshippers, and in the little chapel
round it forty-three lamps are kep' burning night and day.
But I felt more inclined to think that the place where the body of our
Lord wuz lain wuz outside the city where the rocky hill forms a
strange resemblance to a human skull, answering to the Bible
description. Near there a tomb, long buried, has been found lately
that corresponds with the Bible record, which sez: "Now in the garden
was a new tomb wherin no man had been lain." There wuz places in this
tomb for three bodies, but only one had been finished, and scientists
say that no body has ever crumbled into the dust that covers this
tomb. Ruins show that ages back an arched temple once covered this
spot. But what matters the very spot where his body lay, or from where
he ascended into the heavens. Mebby it can't be told for certain after
all these years; but we know that his weary feet trod these dusty
roads. And as we travelled to Bethlehem and Bethany and Nazareth, his
presence seemed to go before us.
It wuz a lovely morning when we left Jerusalem by the Jaffa gate and
went down acrost the valley of Hinnom, up acrost the hill of Evil
Council, and acrost the broad plain where David fought many a battle
and Solomon went about in all his glory.
We stopped a few minutes at the convent of Mar Elias to see the fine
view. From here you can see both places where the Saviour wuz born and
where he died. It is a very sightly spot, and I hearn Josiah tell
Tommy:
"This is a beautiful place, Tommy; it wuz named after Miss Elias; her
children built it to honor their Mar; and it ort to make you think,
Tommy, that you must always mind your Mar."
"Mar?" sez Tommy inquirin'ly, "Do you mean my mamma or my grandma?"
I wuz glad the rest of the party wuz some distance away and didn't
hear him. Josiah always jest crowds his explanations, full and runnin'
over with morals, but he gits things wrong. I hated to hurt his
feelin's, but I had to tell Tommy this wuz named, I spozed, from the
prophet Elijah, who wuz, they say, helped by angels on this very spot
as he flowed away from Jezabel; they gin him water and food, such good
food that after eating it he could travel forty days and forty nights
without eating agin.
Jezabel wuzn't a likely woman at all; I wouldn't been willin' to
neighbor with her.
Rachel's tomb is a little furder on. It is a long, rough-lookin'
structure with a round ruff on the highest end on't. Christian, Jew
and Moslem all agree that this is Rachel's tomb. It wuz right here
that little Benoni wuz born and his ma named him while her soul wuz
departing, for she died.
I heard Josiah talkin' with Tommy about "little Ben." I hated to have
him call him so, but didn't know as it would do much hurt this late
day. Right about here dwelt Ruth and Naomi. A sweet girl Ruth wuz; I
always thought she wuz plenty good enough for Boaz, but then I d'no
but he wuz good enough for her. 'Tennyrate, her actions wuz a perfect
pattern to daughter-in-laws.
Here on these sands the giant, Goliath, strode out pompously to be
slain by a stun from a sling sent by David when he wuz a shepherd boy.
"How I wished I had some of them stuns to slay the evil giants of
1900," sez I. "If a stun could be aimed at Intemperance and another at
the big monopolies and destroy'em as dead as Goliath, what a boon it
would be."
And Arvilly sez, "Where will you git your sling, and where will you
git your Davids?"
Sez I, "The ballot is a good sling that could kill'em both stun dead,
but I d'no where I could git any Davids at present," and she didn't
nor Josiah, but I felt in hopes that there would be one riz up, for
always when the occasion demands, the Lord sends the right man to fill
the place.
Well, presently we arrov at Bethlehem (House of Bread). I mentioned
its meaning, and Josiah sez:
"I do hope I'll get some yeast risin' here that will taste a little
like yourn, Samantha."
So little did he dwell on the divine meanin' that wuz thrillin' my
heart. House of Bread, sacred spot from which proceeded the living
bread, that if any one should eat he should never more hunger.
The Church of the Nativity, the place that we sought first in the
village, is the oldest Christian church in the world. It wuz built by
Helena, mother of Constantine, 330 A.D. It is owned by a good many
different sects who quarrel quite considerable over it, as they would
be likely to in Jonesville if our M. E. church wuz owned too by
Baptists and Piscopalians, etc.
We spoze this church wuz built on the site of the tarven where our
Lord wuz born. Goin' down the windin' staircase we come to the Grotto
of the Nativity, which is a cave in the rock. There are several holy
chapels here, but this one where they say Christ wuz born is about
thirty-eight feet long and ten or eleven feet wide, and covered inside
with costly carving and sculpture. A star in the floor shows the place
where the manger wuz where the Holy Child wuz born, a silver star
glitters above it and around the star sixteen lights are burning night
and day. All about here the caves in the rocks are used as stables,
specially when the tarvens are full, as the Bible expressly states
they wuz the night our Lord wuz born. 'Tennyrate, way back almost to
the time He wuz born, historians accepted this spot as the place of
His birth. But as I said more formerly, what if it wuz not this very
spot, or some other nigh by, we know that it wuz in this little city
our Lord wuz born. It wuz of this city that centuries before the
prophets said: "And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little
amongst the thousands of Judea, yet out of thee shall he come forth
that shall be ruler of Israel, whose goings forth has been from old
everlasting."
Then and there wuz founded on earth that invisible and spiritual
kingdom so much stronger and mightier than any visible kingdom that
wuz ever thought on. The gorgeous throne of Herod and the long line of
kings and emperors since him have crumbled into dust, but that lowly
cradle in the stable of Bethlehem is onmoved. The winds and storms of
eighteen hundred years have not been able to blow a straw away from
that little bed where the Baby Christ lay. The crowns of kings and
emperors have disappeared, covered by the dust of time, but the rays
of light that shone round that Baby's brow grow brighter and brighter
as the centuries sweep by. The deepest love, the strongest emotions of
the hearts of an uncounted host keep that Bethlehem birthplace green
and changeless. The Herods, the Pilates, the Cæsars are dead and
buried under the driftin' centuries, but our Lord's throne stands more
firm and powerful to-day than ever before. Hatred, malice, the cross
of agony, the dark tomb could not touch that immortal life. Great
monarch and tender, overturnin' and upbuildin' empires at will,
blowing away cruel and unjust armies by a wave of his fingers, helping
the poor slave bear his heavy burden by pouring love into his heart,
wiping the widow's tears, soothing the baby's cries, marking even the
sparrow's fall.
Oh, what a kingdom! foretold by ages, begun on earth in that little
rocky stable that December night in Bethlehem. And it is secure; it
cannot be moved, its white pillers are enthroned in the secret
chambers of the soul.
And how strong and changeless his prime ministers, Love, Justice and
Mercy, are, who carry his messages and do his will. How quiet and
peaceable and yet how strong, makin' no fuss and show; but what
majesty is writ down on their forwards as they mirror the will of
their Master. How firm they stand, jest as they've stood for ages; no
wobblin', no turnin' this way and that to git adherents and followers.
No, calm and mighty and holy they stand before that sacred throne jest
as they did at Jerusalem before Herod and Pilate.
Oh, how many emotions I did have as I stood in that sacred spot, twice
as many at least as I ever had in the same length of time in any other
place. I didn't want to speak, I didn't want to see even my dear
Josiah. No, I wanted to be silent, to think, to meditate, to pray "Thy
kingdom come." Nigh by in the same grotto is what they call the tomb
of a relation of ourn on both sides. Yes, they say Adam, our grandpa
(removed) wuz buried here. I felt considerable sceptical about that,
but Josiah beheld it complacently, and I hearn him say to Tommy:
"Yes, here Adam lays, poor creeter!" And sez Josiah, puttin' down his
cane kinder hard, "Oh, what a difference it would have made to
Jonesville and the world at large if Adam had put his foot right down
just as I put my cane to-day, and not let his pardner eat that apple,
nor tease him into eatin' it, too."
And Tommy looked at him in wonder, "Did the apple make him sick,
grandpa?"
"Yes, Tommy, it made him sick as death, sin-sick, and he knowed it
would."
"Well, then what made him eat it, grandpa?"
And Josiah said, "These things are too deep for you to understand now;
when you git a little older grandpa will explain 'em all out to you."
And Arvilly sez, "I'd love to be there when you explained it, Josiah
Allen. Layin' the blame onto the wimmen, jest as men do from Adam and
Alpha to Omega."
Sez Josiah, "We'll walk out, Tommy, and see how it looks on the
outside."
But Arvilly kept mutterin' and kinder scoldin' about it long after
they had departed. "Why didn't Adam take the apple away from her and
throw it away? He hankered after it jest as much as she did, that's
why. Cowardly piece of bizness, layin' it all to her."
And she sniffed and stepped round sort o' nervous like, but sweet
Dorothy drawed her attention off onto sunthin' else.
On the pleasant hills about the village shepards could be seen tendin'
their flocks as they did on the night when the angels and the
multitude of the heavenly hosts appeared to them bearing tidings of
great joy that that night a Saviour wuz born.
"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill to men."
We felt that we must see Nazareth, where our Lord's early years wuz
spent, and we set off on a pleasant day; we approached it from the
north by way of Cana. The road wuz hard and rocky, but on turning a
corner we see the little town like a city set on a hill, only this wuz
on the side of the hill with hills above it and below it. Nazareth has
only a few hundred houses, but they are white and clean looking,
mostly square and flat roofed. As we drew nigh we see the tall minaret
of a mosque, the great convent buildings and the neat houses of the
village looking out of gardens of figs and olives with white doves
playing about the roofs; there wuz great hedges of prickly pears and
white orange blossoms and scarlet pomgranites to make it pleasant.
On the road we wuz travelin' the child Jesus no doubt often passed in
play with other children or at work. I wonder how he felt as he stood
amongst his playmates and if a shadow of what wuz to come rested on
his young heart? I spoze so, for he wuz only twelve when he reasoned
with the wise doctors.
There is one fountain that supplies the town and always has, and we
see stately dark-eyed wimmen carryin' tall jars of water on their
heads (how under the sun they ever do it is a mystery to me; I should
spill every drop), but they seem to carry 'em easy enough. Children
often ran along at their sides. And I knew that in this place the
young child Jesus must often have come with his mother after water.
Stood right here where we stood! what emotions I had as I thought
on't. Dorothy and Robert looked reverently about them and dipped their
hands in the clear water just as Joseph and Mary might when they wuz
young and couldn't look into the futer.
Miss Meechim said she had a tract to home that dealt on this spot and
wished she had brought it, she would have liked to read it here on the
spot.
Arvilly said she wuz glad enough to see that they had plenty of good,
pure water here and didn't have to depend on anything stronger.
And Josiah said in his opinion the water would make crackin' good
coffee, and he wished he had a good cup and a dozen or so of my
nut-cakes.